BASEMENT
2019
Presented as part of the 2019 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, BASEMENT was a complete reimagining of Montana’s first production of the same name, originally created in 2013. Six years later, Montana returned to the work with more experience and a larger production behind him, transforming Philadelphia’s historic Latvian Society into a sprawling subterranean nightmare.
The experience began before the performance did. Audiences descended through shadowy corridors and basement passages, sometimes moving in near total darkness. Along the way, they had to maneuver past a strung up, skinned woman in a cheerleading outfit. Flickering lights illuminated blood across the floor while Frank Sinatra played from an old radio. By the time audiences reached the performance space, they had already entered the world of BASEMENT.
What they entered was one man’s descent into madness and one of the most challenging works Montana had ever created. Violence and brutality were front and center. Inspired in part by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Montana’s character captured women, dressed them as cheerleaders, and terrorized them in an attempt to deal with the grief of losing the love of his life in the most horrific way imaginable.
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In one of the production’s most disturbing sequences, Montana’s character handcrafted a replica of his dead wife using another performer’s body. With the performer strung up onstage, Montana used a staple gun to attach chunks of scalp taken from his other victims, physically reconstructing the woman he had lost in front of the audience. Montana’s character also wore a mask made from another person’s skinned face.
Nothing about BASEMENT was intended to make the audience comfortable. The performers pushed themselves physically while the production brought the audience extremely close to imagery that was often difficult to watch. Horror and sexuality existed alongside moments of unexpected humor, allowing the show to move between tension and absurdity without ever completely releasing the audience.
Phindie selected BASEMENT as one of its “20 Picks for the 2019 Philadelphia Fringe Festival.” Broad Street Review praised Montana’s kinetic choreography and the commitment of the ensemble, ultimately asking whether the production’s deeply disturbing vision “could also be genius.”
Following the festival, a FringeArts Producers Circle member named BASEMENT the most memorable production she had seen that year, specifically pointing to its ability to completely transport the audience.
BASEMENT pushed Montana’s work into its darkest territory yet, asking just how far an audience was willing to follow him.
FUN FACT
BASEMENT remains Montana’s favorite performance to date and the work he feels best represents him as a creative entity. It was incredibly polarizing, and Montana lost nearly half of his audience over the course of the run. Still, to this day, he considers BASEMENT his most successful attempt at creating something completely authentic to himself.
